Category Archives: Plant Portraits
Sunshine Conebush
A U-turn-worthy sight driving in the rain to a job in El Segundo (Southern California zone 10). I’m guessing this is Leucadendron coniferum, the Sunshine Conebush, from the Proteaceae family. Someone clever had it backed by a deep russet-colored stucco … Continue reading
Posted in Plant Portraits, The Hortorialist
Leave a comment
Cat on Pedestal
The pedestal being a stack of concrete that occasionally holds a pot or, as in this case, a cat named Newt, or is just left empty, a plinth crowded on four sides by the horticultural Darwinian struggle that is the … Continue reading
Posted in creatures, Plant Portraits
Leave a comment
Pelargonium echinatum
From Robin Parer’s Geraniaceae site comes possible confirmation as to the identity of my 3-year-old, winter-flowering, summer-dormant pelargonium, P. echinatum, whose winter performance in a 6-inch pot thrills me no end. Just as cold-climate gardeners haul their tender beauties out … Continue reading
Foliage Followup (and other digressions)
The answer to Bloom Day, the 15th of every month, is the Foliage Follow-up, the brainchild of Pam Pennick of the excellent blog Digging, whose garden has endured both record high temps in summer and now record low temps this … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Plant Portraits
Tagged Bloom Day, Coprosma 'County Park Red', Gordon Willis, Hebe 'Quicksilver', Hellebore argutifolius, Libertia peregrinans, Linaria reticulata 'Flamenco', Lophomyrtus x ralphii 'Red Dragon', Orlaya grandiflora, Oxalis spiralis, Prostanthera ovalifolia, Salvia chiapensis, Sedum nussbaumerianum, x Fatshedera lizei
2 Comments
All My Agaves
My love affair with agaves runs deep and goes back decades. Now their sculpted beauty and Fibonacci flare are gaining widespread appreciation, surpassing their heretofore cult status, with gorgeous new hybrids popping up as prolifically as feather grass in gravel. … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Plant Portraits
Tagged agaves, woody lilies, woody lilies
5 Comments
Alien Gomphrena
This horticultural enigma, resembling in this photo by MB Maher a wayward swarm of magenta bees, may be a native Texan gomphrena. Brought home to my zone 10 garden from a local nursery tagged as a species gomphrena, I first … Continue reading
Posted in MB Maher, Plant Portraits
Leave a comment
Moreton Bay Fig
Original banner to the blog, Ficus macrophylla, a tree with gravitas to spare, planted in the 1880s at Rancho Los Alamitos, Long Beach, California. Oh, to have the land to accommodate such a giant! (Oh, to have a rancho…and a … Continue reading
Posted in MB Maher, Plant Portraits
Tagged Ficus macrophylla, Moreton Bay Fig tree, Rancho Los Alamitos
1 Comment